Rossi secures dramatic Assen win, Dovizioso lands title lead

Valentino Rossi has claimed his first MotoGP race win since the 2016 Catalan race by battling through the weather and against Danilo Petrucci for victory at Assen.

The Movistar Yamaha rider produced a flawless race performance to get in the front-running pack of pole-sitter Johann Zarco, Petrucci and Marc Marquez with all riders on a mix of tyre options due to the poor weather at the Dutch TT.

As rain threatened with seven laps to go Petrucci and Rossi made a break ahead, while Zarco pitted for a bike swap for wet tyres, and Dovizioso and Marquez scrapped for third place.

While the front two hit backmarkers after trading passes for the lead, Rossi got a smooth passage past Alex Rins while his countryman got held up which saw the factory Yamaha rider grab victory by just 0.063s for this 115th triumph in his career.

With Petrucci second, Marquez held off a late charge from Cal Crutchlow for the final podium spot and despite Dovizioso slipping down to fifth late on he takes the championship lead after Maverick Vinales crashed out after slipping off at the Geert Trimmer chicane.

Pol Espargaro grabbed KTM’s best result of the year so far with 11th place ahead of Tito Rabat and Dani Pedrosa, with the pitting Johann Zarco down in 14th, as Jorge Lorenzo completed the points finishers in a miserable 15th place.